Copyright © by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. school curriculuminone yearandentered to school.Hecompleted afour-year high Japan, workingasasailor. people fromstealingoysters.Healsowentto worked onagovernmentpatrolto stealing oysters.Thenheswitchedjobsand several years.Forawhile,hemadealiving and alternatelyworkedtraveledfor California. name, London.ThefamilylivedinOakland, thereafter, theboytookhisstepfather’s last Griffith ChaneyonJanuary12,1876.Shortly United Statesbyhoppingfreighttrains. once traveledhundredsofmilesacrossthe ing the1890stoprospectforgold,andhe thousands ofmenwhowenttoCanadadur- The Call of the Wild Wild the of Call The J had foundayellowmetal,andbecausesteamship and transportationcompanieswereboomingthe When Londonwasnineteen, hereturned London quitschoolwhenhewasfourteen The author-adventurer wasbornJohn stories, helivedthem.Hewasoneof ack Londonnotonlywroteadventure Because men,gropingintheArcticdarkness, find, thousandsofmenwererushing —Jack London,intheopeningparagraphof into theNorthland. Study Guide Meet JackLondon The Call of the Wild Wild the of Call The prevent over theworld. lations ofhisworksarestill widelyreadall achieved agreatdealin his lifetime.Trans- forty yearsoldwhenhe died, buthehad bly diedfromkidneydisease.Hewasonly death aresomewhatcontroversial,heproba- had learnedinJapan. There, hepracticedagriculturaltechniques bought aranchinGlenEllen,California. first wifehadtwodaughters.In1905he the UnitedStates. the time,hewashighestpaidwriterin during hisseventeen-yearwritingcareer. At including novelsandshortstorycollections— about hiswork.Hecompletedfiftybooks— writer, hecontinuedtobewelldisciplined celebrity spokespersons. makinghimoneofthefirst products, recommended foruse,certaincommercial suffrage, andprohibition.Healsoendorsed,or which hebelieved,suchassocialism,women’s position towinsupportforcertaincausesin brought Londonlastingfame. Call oftheWild, received whenitwaspublishedin1900. first book, ters. Gradually, however, successcame.His magazines andreceivedmanyrejectionlet- began submittingjokes,stories,andpoemsto himself bystudyingotherwriters’works.He a drearyexistenceaslaborer. Hetrained was onewaytoescapewhathefeltwouldbe with gold,butideas.Becomingawriter from histriptothegoldfields. returned tocollege,buthealsonevergotrich the KlondikegoldrushinCanada.Henever the university, hecouldn’t resistthelureof the UniversityofCalifornia.Afterayearat Though thecircumstancesofLondon’s London wasmarriedtwice.Heandhis Even afterLondonachievedsuccessasa London wasapopularfigure.Heusedhis London camehomefromCanadanot The SonoftheWolf, published threeyearslater, was well The 9